Bernard Lowe
Bernard Lowe is a main character in the TV series, Westworld. He is the head of Delos' Westworld Programming Division. Lowe is played by Jeffrey Wright. Bernard works as a member of the Westworld staff. Dr. Robert Ford created Bernard as a replica of his former partner, Arnold. Ford tells Bernard, in the episode "Trace Decay", that he created Bernard because Ford's human staff were not up to the task of programming emotions in hosts as effectively as Ford and Arnold. Biography Background Some years after Arnold died, Bernard was created by Dr. Robert Ford. Ford programmed Bernard to think of himself as a human. Bernard worked as a member of staff collaborating closely with Dr Robert Ford.The Original Season One "The Original" Following the upgrade of ten percent of the Westworld hosts population, Bernard discovers code for Ford's reveries ("A whole new class of gestures.") in some of the hosts, including in Clementine Pennyfeather. He believes that the additions make the hosts look far more real. When some unscheduled activity in sub-level B83 is detected, Bernard agrees to investigate with the head of security, Ashley Stubbs. There, they find that one of the hosts, Old Bill, has been reactivated by the Park Director, Robert Ford. Bernard informs Ford that there have been complications with some of the upgrade, but doesn't directly accuse Ford of adding the Reveries code. Bernard later investigates a bar in the theme park, where one of the hosts has been exhibiting a higher level of violence than expected. Theresa Cullen informs him that the hosts that were upgraded must be recalled and analyzed before anything else can happen. Bernard agrees, but is reluctant to inform the doctor of his mistakes. Ford appears unperturbed by the news, and tells Bernard that Humans were made to make mistakes. When the planned bloodbath in Sweetwater unfolds, Bernard works with the team to recall and rollback all the upgraded hosts. During this, he discovers that the host playing Peter Abernathy has been behaving unnaturally. He asks Ford personally to investigate due to his knowledge in the field. Worryingly, he witnesses the host relive its previous settings, including a time when it was quoting Shakespeare. Due to this malfunction, Bernard agrees to have the host decommissioned and replaced with another. "Trompe L'Oeil" In a dream, Bernard is seen sleeping in a chair by his son Charlie's bedside in a hospital. Charlie calls him until he wakes up, and reminds him that he was reading a book to him. Bernard resumes reading, but stops again to gently reassure Charlie, who looks sickly and tired, that everything will be okay. He begins looking for a different part of the story to read, when Charlie calls him. Bernard looks up as Charlie slumps to one side and loses consciousness, dying. Bernard says his son's name repeatedly, and stands up to shake him awake, panicking, as the dream ends and Bernard jolts awake in his bed at Westworld."Trompe L'Oeil" "Trace Decay" We hear Robert Ford tell Bernard to bring himself back online, and we see Bernard "wake up" and become more and more upset as he remembers what has happened. He starts to hyperventilate and cry, very distressed. Ford, sitting a couple of metres away from him, looks pleased and tells Bernard just how pleased he is, that Bernard can feel such anguish. Ford peers at him curiously. Bernard is horrified at what he's done and disgusted - by Ford's suggestion that he should be proud of his feelings because, as a programmer, he'd created so many emotions for hosts to feel. Ford talks about how simplistic Host emotions were until he'd built Bernard specifically to help Ford program Host emotions - things human software engineers had failed at. Bernard's still focused on Theresa, asking Ford why he'd made him kill her. Ford quotes something, saying that her life was a small price to pay for protecting the park. Bernard loses his temper, saying that he will not help Ford. He jumps up from his chair and goes to attack Ford. Ford freezes him with a word or two and then turns Bernard's emotions off with a phrase. Bernard's face relaxes and Ford tells him to cover up all evidence that he and Ford have been involved in Theresa's death. Bernard puts his glasses back on and starts to work. We see him altering computer logs to hide everything; hear Ford promising to erase the memories of what he's been forced to do. He edits himself out of security video with Theresa and cleans up location logs. We see him collecting notes from her out of his desk, her hair from his bed. Once he's collected everything he takes it down to Livestock Management and incinerates it. Later we see Bernard and Ford back in the room where Theresa was murdered. Ford thanks Bernard for "dealing with an unfortunate situation". Ford asks Bernard what he really feels as the programmer who wrote the code that is creating and controlling his own emotions. Bernard replies that he understands the technicalities but not the emotions themselves. He asks if they are real, if they are as valid as Ford's own emotions? He talks about the memories of his wife and child and Ford reveals that these were just back-story, that they have never existed. He says that these imagined sufferings make him "life-like" and Bernard replies, "but not alive?". He points out that all pain is imagined, it exists only in the mind, so what is the difference between host and human pain? Ford replies that this was the question which consumed Arnold and, in the end, took his sanity. It's not a question which troubles Ford. He says that there is no threshold between a simulation and life itself. Just a smooth curve of increasing complexity. He believes that consciousness does not exist, that there's nothing special about humans but that humans are much the same as hosts. He tells Bernard that he is not missing anything; that it is time to erase the memories of his relationship with Theresa that aren't needed now. Bernard asks a final question: Has Ford ever made him hurt anyone else? Ford answers that he hasn't, but we see Bernard remember one occasion where he strangled a woman. Ford presses the onscreen button and erases Bernard's memories. Later, we see Ashley Stubbs catch up with Bernard in a corridor. He offers his condolences for Bernard's loss. Ashley knows of their relationship. Bernard is genuinely confused and denies all knowledge of it. He walks off. We see Bernard and Ford responding to a problem with Maeve when she was playing the role of a homesteader and lost her child. She has been brought to Behavior Lab and Diagnostics and is distraught. Nothing the techs can do works. Ford deletes the memories that are distressing her. Bernards sits her down on the stool and she begs Ford not to take all that she has of her daughter, the pain. Ford deletes it and her face goes blank. He attempts to put her into Sleep Mode but instead she stands up, takes a scalpel and stabs herself in the neck. Personality Bernard has human-like emotions. Until instructed to turn off his emotions he felt guilty about being used to murder his co-worker and lover, Theresa Cullen (he was ordered by Dr. Robert Ford to kill her). Relationships Robert Ford More to come Lauren Bernard appears to have a good relationship with his ex-wife, Lauren, who is the mother of his deceased son, Charlie. Whether it is Bernard or Arnold (or both of them) who has had conversations with Lauren via the communications room at the Mesa Hub is unclear. In the episode "Trace Decay", Robert Ford told Bernard that Lauren and his son Charlie were just part of Bernard's backstory, and didn't actually exist. Theresa Cullen Bernard was in a clandestine relationship with Theresa Cullen shortly before he murdered her. He believed that he loved her, and was greatly distressed when he realized that he killed her. Appearances *Season One ** "The Original" ** "Chestnut" ** "The Stray" ** "Dissonance Theory" ** "The Adversary" ** "Trompe L'Oeil" ** "Trace Decay" Use as a Weapon * The host, Bernard, killed Theresa Cullen after Dr. Robert Ford gave him a voice command to do so (in the episode Trompe L'Oeil). Bernard was aware of his actions, but unable to disobey Ford's instruction. *Bernard also appears to have been commanded by Ford to kill Elsie Hughes as well (Bernard 'sees' himself strangling Elsie in his memories). References Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Westworld Staff Category:Weapons